Flashback Friday: John Fox leads Panthers to Super Bowl XXXVIII

On Sunday, the Carolina Panthers will travel to Soldier Field to take on the Chicago Bears. And they’ll see an old friend on the home sideline, Bears head coach John Fox.

After being an NFL assistant for over 10 years, Fox finally reached the top tier of coaching, landing his first NFL head coaching job in 2002 with the Panthers. It didn’t take him long to make the Panthers relevant again.

After finishing his first season 7-9, Fox and the Panthers became one of the NFL’s biggest surprises in 2003. They won the NFC South at 11-5, three games ahead of the 8-8 Saints, and claimed the No. 3 seed in the playoffs.

Part of their quick success was the play of rookie offensive tackle Jordan Gross, who quickly become a force along the Panthers offensive line, playing right tackle his rookie season and flipping between left and right throughout his career. Gross would play in 176 games (including nine playoff games) in his 11-year career, all in Carolina.

Fox also had a solid coaching staff, with included Ken Flajole, a great linebackers coach, and offensive assistant Mike McCoy, who went on to become head coach of the Chargers and is now back in Denver as the offensive coordinator for head coach Vance Joseph.

Fox oversaw one of the better running back duos of that time in Stephen Davis and DeShaun Foster, though Davis shouldered much of the load, rushing 318 times for 1,444 yards and eight touchdowns. Foster was the pass-catching back, hauling in 26 catches for 207 yards and two touchdowns.

Not to be outdone, the Panthers’ passing game put up solid numbers behind quarterback Jake Delhomme and the dynamic duo of Steve Smith and Muhsin Muhammad. The numbers may not have been staggering, but the balance between pass and run is what helped the Panthers win 11 games.

Delhomme threw for 3,219 yards, 19 touchdowns and 16 interceptions. This was a time where throwing was not as prolific as it is today, where 4,000 yards is the new 3,000. Only two quarterbacks in 2003 (Peyton Manning of the Colts and Trent Green of the Chiefs) threw for over 4,000 yards.

Smith caught 88 passes, ninth-most in the league in 2003, for 1,110 yards and seven touchdowns. Muhammad had 837 yards and three touchdowns on 54 catches.

The defense was solid in their own right. The team combined for 16 interceptions, including three each from Mike Minter, Deon Grant and Ricky Manning Jr. The Panthers also recorded 40 sacks, including 12 from Mike Rucker, who was among the leaders that season.

Carolina got off to a 5-0 start in 2003, knocking off the Jaguars, Buccaneers, Falcons, Saints and Colts before the Titans handed them their first loss in Week 7. They bounced back from that loss to defeat the Saints again in overtime in Week 8, which was their third overtime win of the season.

After losing to the Texans, Carolina won five of their final eight to finish 11-5, earning the third seed in the playoffs, where they hosted the Cowboys in the wild-card round.

The Panthers easily handled the Cowboys, as both Smith and Muhammed cracked 100 yards receiving and Davis topped 100 yards rushing. Davis and Smith scored the only touchdowns for Carolina, but John Kasay drilled five field goals as the Panthers defeated Dallas, 29-10, to advance to the divisional round against the St. Louis Rams.

The two teams went back and forth all game and were deadlocked, 23-23, going into overtime. Both teams missed field goal attempts in the first overtime. After Manning intercepted Marc Bulger late in the first overtime, the Panthers had the ball going into the second overtime.

And on the first play of double overtime …

That put the Panthers in the NFC Championship Game for just the second time in franchise history, as they traveled to Philadelphia to take on the top-seeded Eagles, playing in their third straight NFC title game.

Carolina’s defense was all over the Eagles, as Philadelphia could not get anything going, putting up just three points the entire game. A rib injury eventually forced Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb out of the game, but not before he was picked off three times.

The Panthers defeated the Eagles, 14-3, to advance to Super Bowl XXXVIII against the New England Patriots, the first Super Bowl appearance for the team.

By no means were the Panthers scared of the Patriots. They went toe-to-toe with Tom Brady and Co., but they never led until under seven minutes to play when Muhammad scored on an 85-yard pass from Delhomme to give Carolina a 22-21 lead after the two-point conversion failed.

After New England scored and converted for two to take a 29-22 lead, Carolina quickly came back to score in under two minutes to tie the game at 29 with just 68 seconds to play.

But Brady pulled one of his many fourth-quarter comebacks, putting the Patriots in position to kick the game-winning field goal, and just as he did against the Rams two years before, Adam Vinatieri drilled the kick.

The Patriots claimed a 32-29 victory for their second Super Bowl title in three seasons.

It was a bittersweet end to a very successful season for Fox and the Panthers. They won a handful of close games, earning the nickname “Cardiac Cats” after winning four games in overtime, including the double-overtime thriller against the Rams.

That certainly was not the last we would hear of the Fox-led Panthers. They were back in the NFC Championship in 2005, losing to the Seahawks. In 2008, they won the NFC South with a 12-4 record, earning the No. 2 seed and a first-round bye.

An 8-8 record in 2009 spelled the beginning of the end for Fox in Carolina, and a 2-14 record in 2010 sealed his fate.

In total, Fox went 73-71 with the Panthers, winning two division titles and one NFC championship. From there he moved on to Denver, where he finished with a record of 46-18, leading the Broncos to four straight AFC West titles and one AFC championship before landing in Chicago.